Vacation

We were not planning on taking a big vacation this year but we thought we would take 4 days off and head to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The Marriott there is so wonderful for kids plus it is only 2 1/2 hours from our house which is nice because Jack has decided that he doesn't really like to be in the car anymore. 

Wednesday morning we woke up to this. lovely.

about an hour into our drive...

This was not looking good. We were really disappointed - it hadn't rained in over a month and of course it starts raining the day we left for vacation AND according to the weather report it was going to continue raining for the next week - awesome. But we pressed on hoping that our luck would change :)

the view from our patio. it's raining - boo!

 there was a brief break in the rain so we headed to the outdoor pool. That water is about 50 degrees and it was only 70 degrees outside so we opted for the hot tub :)

 Jack loved the hot tub - he would get so relaxed. He is always very tight and tense, it was weird to hold him when we has completely relaxed. I think we need a hot tub at home!!

It started raining again so we decided to head into Florence, AL to "explore". We had been told several times in the past to check out this little 50's style dinner and soda fountain shop. I will withhold the name because as soon as we stepped foot in there we wanted to leave. It was not the 50's style I had in mind, it had more of a 70's/80's decor, it was dirty and the ice cream wasn't even good. We won't be making a repeat visit but it got us out of the rain ;) 

We were really scrambling for things to do - if you can't be outside in Muscle Shoals then you may as well just go home. Everything is outdoors so we got crazy and headed to......

We have been debating all summer whether we should buy Jack a Puddle Jumper or not. I was against it because I didn't think he could do it and Brian thought he could. While killing time at Target we noticed that the Puddle Jumpers were on sale so we bought one to test out in the indoor pool at the hotel. 

 looking super cute!!

 he can totally do it all my himself!! you just have to hold his head up because he loves to drink the water - crazy boy!

 look! all by himself!!

Day 2

still raining - yay.

 after a quick swim in the indoor pool, I was desperately searching for things for us to do and came across the Children's Museum in Florence, Alabama so we packed up and headed over there. It wasn't anything spectacular but it was better than doing nothing!

Children's Museum of Florence, Alabama

They had the "Big" piano.

 Jack enjoyed playing the huge drum.

 Emi got in a little dress-up time.

 Some sweet kids put on a puppet show for Jack - he loved it.

 And they had awesome books like this to read. yikes!

After this little trip, it makes me appreciate what we have in Memphis a lot more!!!

Hanging out in the hotel room

That night we ate at the restaurant in the hotel, we sat on the patio - it was freezing and raining (shocker!) but it was still kind of a nice dinner. The food was great and I always like to listen to the rain just preferably not on my vacation ;)

Day 3 we decided to cut our losses and head home. The forecast was calling for rain for the next week and we had done everything there was to do indoors. So Brian and Emi headed to the indoor pool while I packed us up. As the bellhop was loading the last of our luggage on the cart I looked out the window to this

yep, that would be the sun. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! But we stuck with our decision and I am glad we did because the sun didn't last long and it has done nothing but rain on us since we've been home. Oh well, maybe we will have better luck on our next trip - it was nice to get to be together :)